Re: Writing Center tutorials and exams

[Beth Boquet <eboquet@FAIR1.FAIRFIELD.EDU>]

Molly--

To state the obvious, it sounds like these people have not thought 
very hard about what they expect a take-home exam to do.  I remember 
hating them as a student because they always signalled a cop-out on 
the instructor's part as far as I was concerned.  I'm not saying that 
there could never be a scenario in which a take-home exam was 
pedagogically sound--just that in my experience, they tend not to be.

In an ideal world, I would say that you answered your question with 
this line:

>> 
> We have an honor code here.  Everyone constantly "Upholds the Honor
> Code," so the question of legitimate help is fairly settled, and the
> w.c. is legitimate help.

If the writing center is legitimate help, then I would _assume_ until 
I was told otherwise that the faculty member knew and accepted this 
policy.  In my mind, it is the faculty member's responsibility to 
make the rules of engagement clear to students, not the writing 
center's responsibility.

The other points you raise--about process pedagogy, workshops, 
etc--are things we all do all the time I would imagine.  I would be 
very careful about tying those things in any way to this issue of 
take-home exams.  This is my own little horse to ride, I know (I have 
so many of them), but I would want to make it clear that the 
difficulties instructors have with their pedagogies are _their_ 
problems, not the writing center's.  Now I am willing to sit down and 
talk to anyone about teaching issues, but I am not willing to have 
them lay the problems on the back of the writing center.  They are 
separate pedagogical issues and these people are conflating them for 
their own convenience.

Sign me Fired Up and Ready for the Semester.  Bring 'em on :)

Good luck!
--Beth



 
> 
Elizabeth Boquet
Director, The Writing Center
DM 130
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT  06430
Tel: 203/254-4000, ext. 2529
E-Mail:  eboquet@fair1.fairfield.edu